On October 31st, 2024, the Bureau of Integrated Rural Development organized a capacity building workshop. The Director of BIRD, Dr. Mrs. Monica Addison, participated in a workshop aimed at enhancing participants' knowledge of AI and internet applications. The workshop forms part of the community engagement initiative of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, led by the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Mrs. Rita Akosua Dickson. It brought together 17 youth and business owners from the Kwamo district. In her opening remarks, Dr. Addison emphasized the importance of seizing this unique opportunity to build digital capacity. The Director of BIRD emphasized that:
“I encourage you all to take advantage of this rare opportunity given to you to build your capacity in the digital age. In this digital age, enhancing your knowledge skills in digital technology is critical for career development”
The participants were taken through the essentials of ICT tools for business with a focus on digital marketing strategies, including Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Pay-Per-Click Advertising, and Content Marketing. The training also covered leveraging the internet and online platforms to market and sell businesses effectively, and the effective ways to employ cybersecurity measures, such as Secure Socket Layer (SSL) certificates, encryption, and firewalls, to safeguard online platforms against cyber threats, as well as Artificial Intelligence (AI), its forms, types and operations.
The workshop also offered the opportunity to introduce the participants to branding, covering aspects such as product quality and consistency, packaging, labeling, marketing strategies, customer service, and demographics. Certificates of participation were given to all 17 participants following the training.
In her closing remarks, Dr. Addison thanked everyone who contributed to the program's success and encouraged participants to apply their newly acquired knowledge. She also presented certificates to the participants.